Loading...Sermon April 13, 2017
The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers, LSW
The Church of the Nativity and St. Stephen, Newport, PA
So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. John 13:14
Please be seated
Recently, I was delighted to buy postage stamps with the image of Dr. Dorothy Irene Height on them. Dr. Height died in 2010 at the age of 98. She was a tireless activist for Civil Rights. She was the President/Chair for the NCNW for many years and was involved with the organization until her death.
I knew Dr. Height because she was a social worker. I met her when she was in her mid-nineties. She was the chairperson of the Executive Committee of the Leadership Council on Civil Rights. They had an annual banquet, which a number of us from the National Association of Social Workers, my then-employer, attended. The banquet was very long and many of us left by about 10pm. However, Dr. Height stayed until the dinner was over.
The next morning, most of us who had attended the dinner were a little tired from the long evening. We had an appointment with Dr. Height. We arrived to see her in her office, behind her desk, enthusiastic and glad to meet us. The long dinner hadn’t seemed to bother her at all. Dr. Height was known for dressing properly with pearls and always wearing a hat. She did not disappoint that day.
I wished I could have spent more time with her, because she had an extraordinary life. One of the most important things about Dr. Height, was her humility. The paragraph on the US Postal service webpage says,
Although rarely gaining the recognition of her male contemporaries, she became one of the most influential civil rights leaders of the 20th century. https://www.usps.com/stamps/dorothy-height.htm
Dr. Height did not seek recognition for her amazing work. Many of you probably never heard of her. You see, she was humble. In an interview, I heard her explain that as a social worker, she tried to make sure that things got accomplished, no matter who received the credit. The important thing was that the change they were seeking happened.
In our Gospel reading tonight, we once again hear about how Jesus washed the feet of his disciples. This was not something a teacher and Lord did. Jesus upends the rules of his time, saying that being humble and serving others is what is required of his followers.
At the time and in our time, being humble is not very easy. Some of the best writing on humility is from the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous. It talks about how we put our own needs and comfort above the needs and comfort of others.
Without humility, the writing says, we rely exclusively on our own individual strength and intelligence. We think we have done everything in our lives all by ourselves. Such pride and total self sufficiency makes a working faith in God impossible, the literature says.
A working faith in God is impossible unless we have humility. Humility allows us to move out from ourselves towards others and God. (p. 76)
Humility is what allows us to keep the new commandment that Jesus gave on this night:
I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. John 13:34-35
If we are filled with pride and the illusion that we need no one else, there is no way we can love one another. We must have humility if we are truly to love one another.
Amen
